Conventional wisdom suggests otherwise, saying that science is more likely to kill religion than rescue it, but I'm convinced that science is the last best hope for religion in the modern world.

We lamented the threat posed to indigenous people and lands in the path of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, a project that would carry oil from the Canadian oil sands to the Pacific Coast for shipment to Asia. We lamented our own entanglement in the complicated reality of oil.

After living on an Amish dairy farm for a year, I agree with those who argue that the reality programs reflect a lack of knowledge of the plain folk. The Amish community I associated with had an intimate and sensible relationship to the mainstream world. The beauty is how they managed it.

A number of my Christian friends have been saying they are not going to vote in the 2012 elections. As a Mennonite whose spiritual history is linked to removal from society, I can respect the belief that not voting is a way of subverting the powers of this world. And yet I'm concerned.

On a path to be a Mennonite pastor, I had gone back to school at age 30 in order to prepare for seminary, along with three small children, a supportive wife and a congregation sponsoring us. While in undergrad I took an acting class, and fell in love with this art form.

Mennonites around the world are very involved in responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. How in the world, then, can war, prejudice, hate-filled media, income inequality and poverty fit into this paradigm?

We need to join God in environmental reconciliation by adjusting our habits, our public policies and our understanding of how the world works.

We need another name for that table where we break bread and live with our enemies, that safe and holy place of discord, where we stitch the world together, relationship by relationship.

Anabaptism's values of peace, justice and nonviolence are increasingly relevant in our world. I humbly acknowledge this and say, spread the Word!